Renegade Sailing Adventures.

[JPA Cate]

Big Nick,

newhaul is giving you advice that I really hope you listen to. I think you are approaching going to sea like you would a cross country trucking delivery, and it isn't like that. Wiind and sea conditions determine how fast and in what directions you can reasonably go. It is rare to motor at all on a 2 week ocean passage. In our 30 footer the trip to HI, the downwind leg, took us 16 days, from SF; the trip back took 21, because it is "uphill," and it was in the end of the "good" season. Imho, you really need a crash course in how to deal with the ocean. Maybe you could hire cwykham or jackdale (members here) to train you and circumnavigate Vancouver Is., non-stop.

Another thing you might be underestimating is the countless difficulties of singlehanding. Check out Rustic Charm's thread about entering Port Philip Bay, Victoria. You could have similar issues with any bar crossing, except SF on the West coast.

Remember the weather gods, who gave you snowed in passes on your last trip? I think they are mischievous thugs, and they do govern ocean passages. They can give you "piece of cake", and they can leave you exhausted and scared s*****ss, too. And, maybe cold and wet as well.

So give this all a good think, eh? Salt water is not man's natural environment. CF member sv Beth started a thread about that about 18 mo. ago, iirc.

Remember free advice is worth what you pay for it, and I have been blessed to have a lot of sea miles to back up what I write.

On edit: You're taking an "x" yr old 40 foot boat a long way, mate. You need to get to know her, and more important, you need to start to understand the flexibility the ocean demands of you. It's really not like driving to a schedule. There are no 7-11s, and no parking areas, although well offshore, you are pretty well safe to heave to for rest, or continue on and sleep. Some risk, of course, but the ocean is vast, and we, only small specks on it.

Ann

[BigNickMontana]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Big Nick,

newhaul is giving you advice that I really hope you listen to. I think you are approaching going to sea like you would a cross country trucking delivery, and it isn't like that. Wiind and sea conditions determine how fast and in what directions you can reasonably go. It is rare to motor at all on a 2 week ocean passage. In our 30 footer the trip to HI, the downwind leg, took us 16 days, from SF; the trip back took 21, because it is "uphill," and it was in the end of the "good" season. Imho, you really need a crash course in how to deal with the ocean. Maybe you could hire cwykham or jackdale (members here) to train you and circumnavigate Vancouver Is., non-stop.

Another thing you might be underestimating is the countless difficulties of singlehanding. Check out Rustic Charm's thread about entering Port Philip Bay, Victoria. You could have similar issues with any bar crossing, except SF on the West coast.

Remember the weather gods, who gave you snowed in passes on your last trip? I think they are mischievous thugs, and they do govern ocean passages. They can give you "piece of cake", and they can leave you exhausted and scared s*****ss, too. And, maybe cold and wet as well.

So give this all a good think, eh? Salt water is not man's natural environment. CF member sv Beth started a thread about that about 18 mo. ago, iirc.

Remember free advice is worth what you pay for it, and I have been blessed to have a lot of sea miles to back up what I write.

On edit: You're taking an "x" yr old 40 foot boat a long way, mate. You need to get to know her, and more important, you need to start to understand the flexibility the ocean demands of you. It's really not like driving to a schedule. There are no 7-11s, and no parking areas, although well offshore, you are pretty well safe to heave to for rest, or continue on and sleep. Some risk, of course, but the ocean is vast, and we, only small specks on it.

Ann

Ann, you are pretty spot on and I have no desire what so ever to single hand a boat with little experience all the way across the pacific to Hawaii.

To do that you would have to either be insane or a masochist and I am neither.

This summer I am taking classes, I am already reading everything I can get my hands on including cautionary tales because I believe some of the best wisdom comes from listening to the horror stories others have endured.

I have even gone as far as to befriend one of the authors of such a book and picked his brain about the mistakes he made.

Another author never learned to heave to so he spent roughly 9 days stuck at the helm of his boat when his autopilot failed and drove himself to exhaustion and near madness because he was single handing.

Putting out to sea on a journey like that even with all of my power boat experience which has been close to the coast or in the sound, my opinion is that doing so would be a fools errand.

I have already been looking for people to crew for me with more experience than I have. I will definitely take your advice and look up the members you mentioned.

My hope was that as soon as I could have the boat deal wrapped up I could get on her, spend some time with her, feel her out for what she was going to need and get some time in her under sail, and in the process start hammering out some videos.

Also I was planning on using video to help recruit crew for what I want to do.

My big thing is I wanted to be at Pearl for the 75th anniversary.

I've been chewing through books like a mad man, in the last 2 months I have listened to the following audio books:

1. Sailing alone around the world - Joshua Slokum
2. Blue Water Green Skipper - Stuart Woods
3. The billionaire & the Mechanic - Julian Guthrie
4. Sailing Yachts & Yarns - Tom Cunliffe (did this one 3x because it is great!)
5. Breaking Seas - Glenn Damato
6. As long as it's fun (Larry & Lin Pardey) - Herb McCormick
7. Islands Oceans & Dreams - Michael Salvaneschi
8. Seraffyn's European adventure - Lynn & Larry Pardey
9. Crusing in Seraffyn - Lynn & Larry Pardey
10. Imperfect passage - Michael Cosgrove

Also I am in the process of reading the "Complete Sailing Manual" by Steve Sleight, and I have Brion Toss'es "The Rigging Handbook" and "The Anapolis Book of Seamanship" on deck.



In other words my head hurts!


I know I am buying a boat and going cruzing, I may wind up having to fly to Hawaii for the Pearl Anniversary, if that is the case, well, I will just have to deal with that.



I haven't talked a lot about this yet because I was going to do a series of video book reviews while sitting on my boat which I thought would make for some great content for anyone who was wanting to do what I am.



Sorry if this is a bit on the rambling side, I am super tired right now and can't sleep because I am in a lot of pain. I do appreciate your advice though, you are right on the money, and I do understand the best way to accomplish anything is to listen to the people who have been there doing it for a long time before you.



Doing so can save you from a lot of mistakes if you pay attention.

[Juho]

Originally Posted by BigNickMontana

Still no word from the broker yet. Getting pretty frustrated with that situation, haven't had any communication from them since Monday when I called them, I almost sent an email this morning rescinding my offer but decided to give it a few days.

If your offer didn't have any expiration day, maybe you should set one. They might be just waiting for you to soften up.

But don't tell us how you feel and what you plan to do next since the seller might be following your opinions and plans here.

[newhaul]

Juho. I am the son of the seller and I am not happy with the broker either. I know what nicks offer is he told me . Also the broker did contact me last Monday saying they recieved the offer but since then I have heard nothing . Dad said to let the broker earn their commission . I hope nick rattles cages today . And I will do the same.

[uncle stinkybob]

Bad brokers can ruin as many deals as bad survey. This one is obviously is not earning the commission. if they were there would be a happy buyer and a sad seller by now.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by uncle stinkybob

Bad brokers can ruin as many deals as bad survey. This one is obviously is not earning the commission. if they were there would be a happy buyer and a sad seller by now.

Actually a happy seller. Dad has another boat that he now lives on . He wants to sell the LA ruina. Just as much as nick wants to buy her but it is in the brokers hands.

[uncle stinkybob]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Actually a happy seller. Dad has another boat that he now lives on . He wants to sell the LA ruina. Just as much as nick wants to buy her but it is in the brokers hands.

I'm happy for your dad then, that's great that he got a new boat. I know these things can take time, but to not respond to offers makes it tough for both seller and buyer. I really do hope it works out for both parties. I think Nick would be getting a beautiful classic boat. Could it be they have a better offer and not saying? That happened to a good friend of mine. He lived in San Francisco, the boat, a 32' trimaran in S.C., he was told the boat was his after an offer. He was on a flight out east when he got the call, another offer had been accepted. Part of that problem was no deposit with broker, but still..........

[BigNickMontana]

Originally Posted by uncle stinkybob

I'm happy for your dad then, that's great that he got a new boat. I know these things can take time, but to not respond to offers makes it tough for both seller and buyer. I really do hope it works out for both parties. I think Nick would be getting a beautiful classic boat. Could it be they have a better offer and not saying? That happened to a good friend of mine. He lived in San Francisco, the boat, a 32' trimaran in S.C., he was told the boat was his after an offer. He was on a flight out east when he got the call, another offer had been accepted. Part of that problem was no deposit with broker, but still..........

You know if I buy a plane ticket and fly across the country and someone did that to me, id have a really hard time not helping them fall up a couple of flights of stairs.

[BigNickMontana]

Today was totally unproductive, about 3am some jerk-assed teenager decided the thing to do was to sit down here rev the engine on his junk, do burnouts in the parking lot and thump rap music really loud.

Then got woke up at 7am with my dad knocking on the truck door wanting to get breakfast, I was in so much pain from yesterday I could barely move.

It was a stark reminder that I am not getting enough physical activity and that I need to do better things for myself which is one of the reasons I am getting out of the truck and onto a boat.

It was all just muscle pain simply because I had not worked that hard in a long while, and while it felt good doing it man today sucked.

I did manage to figure out what I need to do the get the doors fixed looking at another truck that pulled in here so hopefully Monday morning I can have this thing put back together in short order and ready to hit the road.

Then we will just have to see what direction I go from here.

Hopefully everything can get straightened out this week so we can start getting some plans made and start carrying them out, not having a solid direction drives me crazy.

[BigNickMontana]

Also I spent most of today reading "the Complete Sailing Manual" the more I get into it the more I learn, and the more I learn how little I know about sailing.



Initially I didn't think there would be much to it seeing as how I have a lot of experience in power boats, now I realize how vastly different the two really are. Even under power a sail boat is nothing like a power boat.

[Juho]

Originally Posted by BigNickMontana

Also I spent most of today reading "the Complete Sailing Manual" the more I get into it the more I learn, and the more I learn how little I know about sailing.



Initially I didn't think there would be much to it seeing as how I have a lot of experience in power boats, now I realize how vastly different the two really are. Even under power a sail boat is nothing like a power boat.

Yes, there are lots of differences and details. But on the other hand, if a handy trucker goes out sailing with a friend, it doesn't take more than half a day to get used to the mechanics and practices of the new water vehicle.

[Juho]

Originally Posted by BigNickMontana

This summer I am taking classes, I am already reading everything I can get my hands on including cautionary tales because I believe some of the best wisdom comes from listening to the horror stories others have endured.

Reading cautionary tales and horror stories is the best approach. It is better to gain that kind of knowledge and experiences beforehand on paper, and only later (or preferably never) in or after real life situations at sea.

[BigNickMontana]

New Video:

[BigNickMontana]

Well boat deal is sunk. Seller didn't like my offer, I am going back to Plan A which is to buy a boat at the end of the summer.

[Juho]

Originally Posted by BigNickMontana

Well boat deal is sunk. Seller didn't like my offer, I am going back to Plan A which is to buy a boat at the end of the summer.

Sorry to hear. But keep looking. The right boat might appear anytime. And if it does not appear before the end of the summer, at least you are much more knowledgeable about the market situation by then.